Hospitals get built with Sobrato backing, influence

John A. Sobrato may be one of the valley’s most prominent developers, but he’s also one of the most generous when it comes to spreading his wealth in the local health care community.

In 2009, Sobrato and his wife, Sue, pledged $20 million to help build one of two new in-patient towers at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. The tower will be dubbed The Sobrato Pavilion.

More recently, the couple announced a $5 million matching grant for the new wing of Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose.

The Sobrato Organization has grown to be one of the largest commercial real estate owners in Silicon Valley with more than 400 acres in Santa Clara and Alameda counties and about 8 million square feet of projects. For Sobrato, philanthropy has always been a priority. In 1996, that priority was formalized in the formation of the Sobrato Family Foundation, a private family foundation committed to sustaining the philanthropic legacy of the Sobrato family.

Sobrato’s mother, Ann, influenced a young John A. Sobrato with her dedication to helping those in need.

“I would go with her to the soup kitchen at St. Anthony’s (Catholic Church) at our local parish a few blocks from our home,” he said. “She started volunteering over there even as a young widow raising me.”

Sobrato also recalls growing up and watching his mother work at Stanford Hospital as a “Pink Lady,” or volunteer.

“I guess that piqued my interest in health care,” he said.

Then in the late 1990s, his mother donated money to Stanford University, which had just expanded its first children’s hospital — the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. A new play space aimed at providing families with a sense of normalcy during their child’s hospitalization was named after Sobrato’s mother — the Ann Sobrato Dayroom.

Later, she established an endowment fund to assist uninsured and underinsured patients and families who receive care at Packard Children’s.

Since its inception in 1998, the Ann Sobrato Endowment for Families in Need provided resources for hospital-related expenses, transportation, medication, hotel accommodations, food vouchers, and, occasionally, bereavement services for children who have died while at Packard Children’s.

To this day, Sobrato sees how that gift has grown over the years, with the help of “astute” Stanford financial managers.

“I get a report annually from the hospital,” he said. “I’ve watched that investment grow to more than $1 million.” (Interest is drawn annually to help needy families.)

In addition to Sobrato’s personal donations, The Sobrato Family Foundation has made its own gifts to the hospital.

For Children’s Hospital officials, Sobrato’s generosity says a lot about his character.

“He has a real feel for this community, which can be seen in his support of so many different organizations,” said Linda Collier, campaign director and major gift officer for the Children’s Hospital. “The fact that he’s so supportive of a private children’s hospital and a county hospital shows he has a real heart for providing care for everyone.”

Indeed, Sobrato is vocal about his belief that receiving good health care is a “God-given right.”

“Those folks in our community that can’t afford to pay for the best health care can go to VMC and LPC,” he said. “They won’t turn people away as long as they’re from the local community.”

Indeed, Collier says Sobrato’s desire to help those less fortunate is clear.

“He’s told us that one of the things he likes most about us is that he knows we are the safety net for our community’s children,” Collier said. “We see a lot of Medi-Cal and uninsured patients. It’s important to him that everyone get care.”

The hospital is breaking ground on The Sobrato Pavilion with completion scheduled for 2016.